Sprawl is cheap for developers and costly for everyone else. This would help fight it | Opinion

If we don’t change things, new homes and strip malls will replace farms and forests. People will spend more time sitting in traffic to get to work.

Suburban sprawl is cheap for developers — and expensive for everyone else.

It’s expensive for taxpayers who will pay more to build roads, schools, fire stations and other services where none exist today. It’’s expensive for families and businesses rebuilding after wildfires, floods and rising sea levels. And it’s expensive in terms of our quality of life.

Where we live, how we build and how far we drive are all related to climate change.

In the last few years, our state withstood a catastrophic heat dome, aggressive wildfires, devastating flooding and a debilitating drought. That extreme weather will only get worse as the climate warms.

If we want to drive less, we need better land-use planning.

If we want to be prepared for floods, wildfires and rising sea levels, we need better land-use planning.

And if we want to live in affordable neighborhoods where you don’t need the expense and hassle of a car — where kids can safely walk to school, and you can bike or take transit to work or the store — we need better land-use planning.

Doing nothing costs us all more, as it’s extremely expensive to clean up the damage due to suburban sprawl, extreme weather and climate change.

That’s why I sponsored House Bill 1181, which helps to avoid these harms and plans for livable, walkable communities. I’m happy to say this bill passed the House — but the fight isn’t over. It still needs to pass the Senate and get signed into law.

Here’s why it’s important to act: Real change often happens at the local level, especially when it comes to what gets built and how. The legislation adds climate change as a goal for our state’s Growth Management Act and requires our most populous counties and cities to plan to address the harms of climate change. It asks counties and cities to mitigate the current and future impacts of climate change on people, property, and our environment.

Under the bill, local leaders would choose from a menu of mitigation measures to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and cut down the number of miles driven by vehicles. The Department of Ecology would tackle the problem of rising seas, while the Department of Commerce will work with local jurisdictions to make sure they are addressing natural hazards such as flooding, wildfires and other natural hazards in their planning.

Better land-use planning works hand-in-hand with other reforms like improved mass transit and ferries, efforts to encourage walking and biking instead of driving alone, and middle housing (House Bill 1110), which also just passed the House.

Many local governments voluntarily adopted these goals for their own planning purposes, including King, Snohomish, Pierce and Whatcom counties, along with cities such as Redmond, Bothell, Kirkland and Kenmore. Adopting this state law would bring the benefits of smart planning to a broader population, which is what we need to make a real difference.

I want to thank all the lawmakers, stakeholders and supporters who helped improve this legislation over the past three years. Many of those who’ve helped craft this bill are motivated by a sense of good stewardship — of leaving our neighborhood and state better than we found it.

As a lawmaker, an architect and a mom, there is nothing I want more than to leave our kids a livable world.

If you agree, we need your help, because wealthy special interests will spend a lot of money and energy trying to defeat this reform. Please share your thoughts with local lawmakers by phone or email. Tell them you want real action and smarter planning.

Tell them we need to do the right thing for our taxpayers, our planet and our kids.

Rep. Davina Duerr, D-Bothell, is a professional architect. She serves as chair of the House Local Government Committee and has worked for years to preserve open space, create more affordable housing and protect our environment.